Monthly Archive: October 2016

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In the past month, two pollsters have collected data about how much the public trusts fact-checking. Rasmussen Reports On Sept. 30, 2016, Rasmussen Reports surveyed likely voters and found a low level of trust in media fact-checking: A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that just 29% of all Likely U.S. Voters trust media fact-checking of candidates’…Read more

The mainstream fact checkers can’t seem to wait to grasp one of the Holy Grails of fact-checking: Live fact-checking. The problem? Live fact-checking leads directly toward a magnification of one of fact-checking’s standard problems, selection bias. In standard fact-checking, the fact checkers pick a claim and then take their time in (hopefully!) getting the facts right and then reporting on…Read more

“Kaine said Castile was stopped by police 40 or 50 times before the time when he was fatally wounded. According to multiple independent press reports, that is accurate. Police had stopped Castile at least 46 times.” —PolitiFact, from a fact check of Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Kaine, Oct. 5, 2016 Overview PolitiFact largely drops the context of Kaine’s remark,…Read more

“Donald Trump off-base in saying murders are up in New York City” —PolitiFact headline, Sept. 27, 2016 Overview Democrat presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton said murders are going down under New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio. Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, contradicting Clinton during debate, said murders are going up. PolitiFact came down on Clinton’s side, but the numbers do…Read more